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A team above Xavier finally lost! Sure, it was Michigan State without its best player and sure, one of the flaws of KenPom is that its rankings don't take time missed for injuries into consideration, but hey, movement! While most of us were enjoying Christmas in the warm embrace of kith and kin, not a whole lot of basketball was being played, so the rankings were fairly static. Now conference season is upon and things should start getting fairly silly fairly soon. What better way to open that up than with an undefeated #1 going down (albeit on the road with their best guy hurt)?
Here's your Pomeroy s-curve:
| The | KenPom s-curve | 12/30 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KANSAS | Oklahoma | VIRGINIA | PURDUE |
| 2 | Michigan St. | Xavier | VILLANOVA | Louisville |
| 3 | Duke | North Carolina | Miami FL | Iowa |
| 4 | ARIZONA | Maryland | KENTUCKY | West Virginia |
| 5 | Vanderbilt | Iowa St. | Butler | Indiana |
| 6 | South Carolina | CONNECTICUT | Texas A&M | GONZAGA |
| 7 | Florida | Pittsburgh | Baylor | Oregon |
| 8 | Michigan | Saint Mary's | VALPARAISO | Notre Dame |
| 9 | Cincinnati | USC | WICHITA ST. | Florida St. |
| 10 | Texas Tech | Providence | California | Utah |
| 11 | UCLA | DAYTON | Colorado | Northwestern |
| 12 | Texas | Oregon St. | Seton Hall | AKRON |
| 12 | ARKANSAS LITTLE ROCK | SOUTH DAKOTA ST. | ||
| 13 | MONMOUTH | STONY BROOK | HAWAII | UNLV |
| 14 | YALE | OLD DOMINION | CHATTANOOGA | WILLIAM & MARY |
| 15 | BELMONT | HIGH POINT | GRAND CANYON | WEBER ST. |
| 16 | SOUTHERN | NORTH FLORIDA | STEPHEN F. AUSTIN | ARMY |
| 16 | WAGNER | NORFOLK ST. | ||
| First 4 out | BYU | Arizona St. | Ohio St. | Syracuse |
| Next 4 out | Evansville | Wisconsin | VCU | George Washington |
And the bracket for this week:
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I feel bad for SMU basketball fans, if that's a thing. They have one of the best teams in the nation - they'd fall on the three line this week - but they're not eligible for postseason play due to "unethical conduct" and "academic violations." Instead of gearing up for a run to Houston, they have to be content to watch the Mustangs tear through the AAC and then go back to their studies when the real fun kicks off in March. It's no manner of luck.
In other news, how bad has the A10 gotten? At least the American still has UConn and UC both in and holding semi-respectable seeds. Xavier's former conference boasts Dayton as an 11 and nothing else. VCU and GW are both on the bubble, but it's hard to see too many resume-boosting opportunities in league play for either of them. The field is starting to take shape heading into conference play now; from here on out it will be league mates beating up on each other.